Phil Arvia: Butkus 'born to coach'

Monday

Jul 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2007 at 2:08 AM

Ron Turner claims he knew years ago Luke Butkus would one day be a coach, having seen the potential back at Illinois, where the current Bears offensive coordinator recruited the young giant out of Bloom High School to play center for the Fighting Illini.

Phil Arvia

Ron Turner claims he knew years ago Luke Butkus would one day be a coach, having seen the potential back at Illinois, where the current Bears offensive coordinator recruited the young giant out of Bloom High School to play center for the Fighting Illini.

He didn’t learn until this year at least one other member of the Bears organization has known of Butkus’ teaching bent for quite some time, as well.

“When I hired Luke, Olin (Kreutz) made the statement, ‘Hey, when Luke was here, he was an undrafted free agent trying to make the team, and he’s trying to coach me. I’m like, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ ” Turner said.

What would have been a natural reaction — when Butkus was in camp with the Bears in 2002, Kreutz was coming off his first Pro Bowl start — went unconfirmed by Kreutz. Asked about the tale, Kreutz smiled broadly and referred all questions to Butkus, who was hired in February to be the Bears’ assistant offensive line coach.

That would be unlikely, judging by the general stammering and mildly flushed face Butkus developed upon the launching of this topic.

“I, I — you know. I don’t know if I want to answer this, because if I do answer it, there’ll be some repercussions,” Butkus said.

Apparently, there were some repercussions for the rookie Butkus, which coach Butkus referred to only after succumbing to the pressure of repeated questioning. It seems the Bears were running a drill, and Butkus had a suggestion as to how Kreutz might want to go about it.

“I just so happened to say, ‘You could try it like this,’ or ‘You could try it this way,’ rather than the way he was accustomed to doing it,” Butkus said. “And it just, at that particular moment, Olin wasn’t really having that.

“The way he puts it is I was telling him, ‘Do this.’ I think maybe I was just offering some advice. I don’t know why. But ... I was just so nervous as a rookie and I wanted to do everything right, I guess it just kind of slipped out.”

Butkus would slip out of Bears camp a few weeks later, cut. He latched on with San Diego’s practice squad, where he spent the 2002 season, before playing two seasons in NFL Europe. His playing days ended in the Houston Texans’ training camp in 2004.
Turner, for one, was surprised.

“I think Luke had the ability to play at this level, in the right situation,” Turner said. “But he’s taken all the things that made him a good player, and they’re making him a good coach. He was a very good player, a very smart player, and very sound, technique-wise.”

After two seasons as a graduate assistant at Oregon, Butkus leaped at an offer to reunite with his Illinois mentors, Turner and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, when former Bears O-line assistant Harold Goodwin went to the Steelers.

“An opportunity is all I’ve ever wanted as a player or a coach — it just so happens this opportunity came in my favorite place,” Butkus said. “I had a great experience out in Oregon — great coaches, people and players — but it’s amazing to work for your home team, the team I grew up watching — and there’s obviously some family ties.”

Well, yes. Dick Butkus, Luke’s uncle, was perhaps the greatest of all the Bears’ great linebackers. But Turner and Hiestand are like family, as well.

“Sometimes I still think they’re looking at me as that 17-year-old kid coming from Steger,” Butkus said.

“But at the same time, they’re bringing me along, they’re teaching me — and not just the playing aspects, but the way to approach things, the way to handle your time as a coach, how to prepare and work. There’s a lot of different things besides just teaching me the X’s and O’s.”

It’s all part of the job Butkus knew he might someday take.

“I wanted to play 10 years, like everyone, but it didn’t work out,” Butkus said. “I always knew that if it didn’t work out, hopefully I could do the coaching aspect of it.

“I’ve had my first taste of it, and it’s great. I love it.”

It shows, even to the members of the Bears line who are older than their new 28-year-old instructor.

“You can learn from anybody (regardless of age),” Kreutz, 30, said. “Luke’s a great guy. He’s a hard worker and he was a technique guy even when he played, so he knows a lot about the position.”

“He’s going to be a great coach,” John Tait, 32, said. “Some people are just kind of born to coach. They can’t help but give pointers and things like that.”

For his part, Butkus says he really isn’t instructing too much.

“I’m learning more from them than I’m teaching,” he said. “What I’m doing is helping those guys prepare, any way I can, to win.”

And he’s preparing for a new career path.

“Five or 10 years from now, I want to still be coaching,” he said. “Whether it’s as a coordinator or a head coach, college or pros, I don’t know.

“Right now, though, I just want to do this job the best I can.”

Phil Arvia can be reached at parvia@dailysouthtown.com or
(708) 633-5949. Read his blog at http://blogs.dailysouthtown.com/arvia.